Chapter 677: All of this should end

In a flash, it's almost New Year's Eve again.

Since the last time Li Qingluo brought Fangfang out of the palace alone and encountered trouble at the Shunyang Marquis Manor, Duan Rongshi temporarily refused her, not allowing her to leave the palace alone.

After he finally managed to finish his work with difficulty, he finally accompanied his wife and daughter out of Jinling City.

Because it was winter.

So Duan Rongshi also sat in a spacious carriage.

Fangfang would sometimes sit on Father Emperor's leg, and sometimes in Empress Mother's arms.

She is a child who cannot stay still.

Full of cleverness and cuteness, Duan Rongshi has been increasingly indulging her, sometimes even holding her in his arms while attending court.

Of course, the civil and military officials dare not even mention whether the New Emperor's actions befit imperial dignity.

Because nowadays, the women of Jinling and even all of Great Yue have grown increasingly steadfast.

Who would dare impeach the Princess for being held in court?

All this is not because His Majesty first proclaimed that this world also has half an Empress.

Even the Empress was called 'Ten Thousand Years'.

At first, the court officials didn't see anything wrong.

Because back then, the New Emperor and the Empress indeed conquered the realm together, and both Great Chu and DaLiang wanted to win over the New Emperor.

Now regretting it is too late for each of them.

All we can do is watch as the women of the world rise up, one by one.

And this is exactly what Li Qingluo, as Empress, most wants to see.

In this world, achieving true gender equality may still take a long time, and a long road lies ahead.

But there's no rush.

She can gradually fight for women's names, fight for them to walk the streets with heads held high and chests out—this is already the first step she can take.

To change women's true status requires a span of a hundred years or even more to evolve.

Perhaps one day, that day might truly come.

Leaving the palace, Duan Rongshi brought Li Qingluo to Qishan.

On the mountainside of Qishan there is a separate villa.

The villa's gate plaque reads: Osmanthus Garden.

As soon as Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi entered, they were greeted by a group of adorable mute servants.

Back when Duan Rongshi faked his death and left, he had already settled the mute servants here; now, in the blink of an eye, it's already their fourth year living here.

Some of them have grown old.

Some remain as enthusiastic as before, surrounding them warmly.

This is not Li Qingluo's first time coming to see them.

But everyone is still very excited, with some continually rubbing their red eyes and wiping away tears.

Li Qingluo knows they are simply too lonely and isolated.

Moreover, these past years neither she nor Duan Rongshi have been around, so they have nothing to rely on.

Li Qingluo said: "Why don't you come live with us in the palace?"

"Living in the palace, we could see each other often and take care of you."

The mute servants frantically gestured.

"Your Majesty, Madam."

"We've grown accustomed to a free and unrestrained life; we don't want to enter the palace."

"Moreover, here we can still guard the Princess."

"We are very happy and also very free."

"If you come by occasionally, the mute servants are already quite satisfied."

Saying this, the mute servants took Fangfang aside to play.

Li Qingluo looked helplessly at Duan Rongshi.

Duan Rongshi said: "Let them be."

"Anyway, I will support them for the rest of their lives."

Li Qingluo said: "Then let's go see Mother Consort."

Back then, Duan Rongshi, acting on the Chu Emperor's orders, returned to DaLiang to steal the remains of Zongzheng Qingyue.

And Duan Rongshi simply took the opportunity to move the Mother Consort's remains from the DaLiang Imperial Mausoleum, burying them in the fairyland outside the cave where he and Li Qingluo had once fallen, a place like a heavenly secret realm.

Believe that here, the soul of Zongzheng Qingyue can also find true peace.

"Mother Consort, we have brought your beloved granddaughter Fangfang to see you."

"Mother Consort, we all miss you dearly."

"However, please rest assured, Mother Consort, we are all well."

"Mother Consort, thank you for everything……"

If it weren't for Zongzheng Qingyue sending Li Qingluo back to be reborn, there would be no Duan Rongshi and Li Qingluo in this life.

Nor would there be this little life, Fangfang.

In this life, they will live long and safe, peaceful and sound.

Fangfang, in her childish voice, knelt in the snow shouting: "Grandma……"

Then she obediently kowtowed several times.

Duan Rongshi gently patted Fangfang's little head, then lowered his hand and took Li Qingluo's hand beside him.

The three of them played in the snow for a while.

Fangfang and the empress together turned the emperor into a big snowman.

Their cheerful laughter echoed long and long in the mountains and forests, incessant to the ears.

Sha Yi also went into the water to catch fish.

After everyone ate the grilled fish together in the cave, they reluctantly left this otherworldly place.

However, on the way back to Jinling, they encountered an assassination.

Several hundred people surrounded Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi tightly.

Because they were traveling incognito, this time they only brought a dozen or so guards.

But Li Qingluo and Duan Rongshi were not panicked.

Duan Rongshi even calmly personally held Fangfang and climbed out of the carriage.

Looking at the group before him, neither many nor few, he, radiating imperial aura, stood on the carriage shaft, looked down on everyone coldly and asked: "Imperial sister, won't you come out to meet?"

The new emperor had long been notorious as a Yama-like killing god.

Now wearing the imperial dragon robe, even if just in casual clothes, his innate true dragon aura was already terrifying enough.

Upon releasing the killing intent he had deliberately suppressed in his bones, when he spoke those words, everyone present dressed in black was so terrified they dared not move.

The new emperor actually guessed their identities?

Your Majesty, could it be that you came prepared, waiting for them?

The crowd dispersed.

Princess Duan Xiyue appeared from the rear of the crowd and stepped out.

"Fifth brother, after so many years apart, I never imagined our reunion would be like this."

"You now rule the world as emperor, while I, your imperial sister, am a failed usurper of power… yet we siblings have come to this day."

"But you say, if I were to kill you here today—could I then storm the palace and seize the throne smoothly?"

Duan Rongshi: "Imperial sister, you're joking."

"Not to mention that your several hundred people couldn't capture me today; even if you really succeeded in taking my head…"

"Before even entering the Jinling imperial city, your troops would be wiped out by the Northern Tu army, leaving no remains."

"Even if you could break into the palace, would the realm I conquered truly accept you as the new emperor?"

Li Qingluo also climbed out of the carriage.

She stood beside Duan Rongshi, looked at Princess Xiyue, and shook her head.

"Princess, your every move these past days, Ah Shi has long known."

"He has refrained from sending troops to capture you, out of consideration for your sibling bond."

"Princess, it's time this all ended."

Princess Duan Xiyue raised her head and gave a bitter, miserable laugh.

"End?"

"End!!"

"My prince consort! My two sons! My pearl in the palm, Nanping… all gone—how can I possibly let this end?!"

"I once begged him bitterly not to send Nanping away for a marriage alliance…"

"He is Nanping's own maternal uncle! Yet he still ruthlessly threatened me, mercilessly sending my Nanping to that man-eating place!"

"To be frank, my desire to fight my way back to Jinling is not to seize your realm, Fifth Brother."

"I want to personally carve him, Duan Rongjue, limb from limb! Let him wish he were dead, let him suffer the cruelest punishment this world has to offer, let his wife and children meet the same fate he inflicted on me—let them all die because of him!"

"All of them, die, die!!"

Princess Duan Xiyue, eyes blood-red, roared madly, shouting her hatred, her pain, her unwillingness.

Duan Rongshi: "So, Imperial sister, you intend to drag these loyal followers of yours to die with you?"

"Imperial sister, I can hand over Duan Rongjue for you to deal with."

"As long as you dare to come with me."

Having said that, Duan Rongshi turned, held Fangfang, and climbed back into the carriage.

Xiyue lifted her head, full of disbelief: "Really, truly?"

"Will you hand over Duan Rongjue for me to handle?"

A wary doubt flickered in her eyes: "Could this be your trick to deceive me and capture me?"

Li Qingluo: "Whether you believe it or not is up to you, Princess."

"Ah Shi has so far restrained himself from executing the former crown prince despite court pressure, because he knows you must feel unwilling, full of hatred."

"He still cherishes your sibling bond; otherwise, as a princess, would we have brought only a dozen or so guards out of the city today?"

"If the princess trusts us as a couple, then come with us into the city."

"If not, you may also try to fight your way along this road today."

After saying that, Li Qingluo also turned and climbed into the carriage.

Fangfang lunged into her arms, crying in a childish voice: "Mother."

Outside the carriage, Princess Duan Xiyue heard that cry of "Mother," and her heart jolted violently.

She bore the prince consort one daughter and two sons in her lifetime.

Now all three children have suffered a fate worse than death; how could her heart as a mother not be torn apart, anguished beyond endurance?

Her head once full of black hair is now streaked with white.

Every time she hears the tender cry of "Mother," Princess Duan Xiyue recalls when her three children called her that.

In her heart, her hatred grows, and she can neither accept nor forgive Duan Rongjue's ruthlessness!

Now that we have reached this point, whether you believe them or not, can you compare it to the current state of constantly hiding, wanting to rise again yet being utterly powerless and ending up with an even worse result?

Rather than living day after day in pain, day after day like a walking corpse, better to gamble everything!

Anyway, she has nothing left.

Duan Xiyue turned her head to look at the old subordinates who had sworn to follow her to the death, feeling a flood of emotions.

"From now on, I will go, regardless of life or death; you all should no longer follow me."

"From now on, across the great world, you all go pursue your own days!"

"Don't look for a useless master like me again."

Having said that, Duan Xiyue boarded the carriage and, following Li Qingluo and the others, rode away.

The remaining group of subordinates looked at each other in confusion, "Princess, you no longer want us?"

"W‑where should we go, what should we do?"

The Head of the Shadow Guard, Pei Qinghong, stepped out of the forest.

"You all, if you wish freedom, may depart now. But from this point onward you must conceal your names, never speak of the past or your former identities."

"If not, anyone who reveals they were once the Princess's former subordinates will be brought to justice by the court."

"Those who do not wish to leave, follow me."

Releasing a few hundred people at once would inevitably turn them into bandit marauders, so how could Duan Rongshi truly have set them all free?

However, by changing their identities and reintegrating them all into the army, it would also provide a place to take in those who were once loyal to Xiyue.

Xiyue seemed also to know that the imperial younger brother would not exterminate her former subordinates.

On the carriage, she whispered, "Thank you."

"Fifth brother, you left the city today specifically waiting for my appearance, didn't you?"